Africanfuturism

English

Etymology

Coined by science fiction and fantasy author Nnedi Okorafor in 2019, from African +‎ futurism.

Noun

Africanfuturism (usually uncountable, plural Africanfuturisms)

1. (Africa, neologism) An Afrocentric subgenre of science fiction that foregrounds familial, spiritual and historical connections among Black people, paying particular attention to African culture, history and mythology, and African perspectives, rather than those of the African diaspora in the western world.
   • 2019, Nnedi Okorafor, “Africanfuturism Defined”, in Nnedi's Wahala Zone Blog‎^[1]:

     Africanfuturism is similar to “Afrofuturism” in the way that blacks on the continent and in the Black Diaspora are all connected by blood, spirit, history and future. The difference is that Africanfuturism is specifically and more directly rooted in African culture, history, mythology and point-of-view as it then branches into the Black Diaspora, and it does not privilege or center the West.

   • 2021, Jenna N. Hanchey, “'The self is embodied': Reading queer and trans Africanfuturism in The Wormwood Trilogy”, in Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, volume 14, number 4, →DOI, page 321:

     Thompson’s Africanfuturism is both queer and decolonial at the same time, necessitating an approach to embodiment that does not look like white, Western performative queerness

   • 2022, Alyssa Shotwell, “The Key Differences Between Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism (With Examples!)”, in The Mary Sue‎^[2]:

     Later this year, the highly anticipated sequel to Black Panther (2018), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, releases. This will likely mark another big surge in wider public excitement and shared fan art depicting elements of Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism.

See also

• Afrofuturism
• Africanjujuism